As Polish media reported, in early November 2018, Polish National Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak approved the schedule for the formation of the fourth regular division of the Polish Army, which is planned to be deployed in the eastern part of the country near the borders with Belarus and Ukraine - the 18th Iron Mechanized Division (18. "Żelazna" Dywizji Zmechanizowanej).

At present, the Polish ground forces include three divisions (the 11th armored cavalry and the 12th and 16th mechanized), consisting of a total of ten brigades, as well as six separate brigades. The fourth existing division (1st Warsaw Mechanized) was disbanded in 2011 (four divisions have remained in the Polish army since 2001). However, due to increased tensions in Europe, in 2016 the Polish Ministry of National Defense decided to deploy the fourth division in the eastern direction, and its formation has now turned into a practical plane.

The control of the 18th mechanized division (including the 18th control battalion) was activated on September 17, 2018 (the 79th anniversary of the entry of the Red Army on the territory of Poland in 1939) in Siedlce (Masovian Voivodeship, 50 km east of Warsaw). plan, the management of the 18th division should be deployed by the end of 2018, and by September 2019 the main command structures of the division will be established. By the end of 2019, the 18th Division will include two existing brigades - the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade named after Tadeusz Kosciuszko (1 Warszawska Brygada Pancerna im. Tadeusza Kościuszki), stationed in Vesola (Warsaw) and part of the 16th the mechanized division (the 16th division has four brigades in its structure, so the withdrawal of one of them will lead the division to the “normal” standard), as well as a separate 21st brigade of the Podhaler shooters named after brigade general Mechislav Borut-Spihovic 21 im. gen. bryg. Mieczysława Boruty-Spiechowicza), in fact - mechanization located in Rzeszow in southern Poland (Subcarpathian Voivodeship). In this structure, the 18th Mechanized Division must reach combat readiness in the first half of 2021.

Also as part of the 18th division, beginning in the fall of 2019, the formation of the third new mechanized brigade should be carried out, which should reach combat readiness by mid-2022 and which is planned to be deployed in Lublin. According to several reports, for this purpose it is planned to restore the 3rd Legionary Mechanized Romuald Traugutt Mechanized Brigade, which was disbanded in 2011, which was previously located in Lublin.

In general, the cost of forming and equipping the 18th mechanized division is estimated by the Polish Ministry of National Defense at 27 billion zlotys ($ 7.1 billion) over ten years.

Respected Leader

Far-right Polish nationalists organised an anti-Semitic protest during a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony at Auschwitz. The small group of hardline activists held their demonstration inside the former concentration camp at the same time as the official Holocaust commemorations on Sunday.

The 50 protestors from the Polish Independence Movement were led by Piotr Rybak, who was once jailed for burning an effigy of a Jew.

Mr Rybak told reporters they were there to oppose the official – and historically accurate – narrative that millions of Jews were murdered by the Nazis with the active collaboration of some Poles.

"It's time to fight against Jewry and free Poland from them,” Mr Rybak said, a Polish newspaper reported.

Ylipäällikkö

British Lab has Found Residue of Explosives on Parts of Plane Whose Crash Killed Kaczyński, Polish Radio Says

Paul Goble
Staunton, March 25 – Polish news outlets are reporting that the Forensic Explosives Laboratory of the British Defense Ministry found residue of explosives on the vast majority of the 200 parts of the remains of the plane whose crash near Smolensk in 2010 killed Polish President Lech Kaczyński and members of his party.

Polish radio says that the materials the British have concluded were affected by an explosion were given to London already in May 2017. Many Poles have long suspected that Moscow was behind the crash and have talked openly about the possibility that Russia’s special services placed a bomb on board (http://www.polradio.pl/5/38/Artykul/412476).

This report will exacerbate not only the already tense relations between Russia and Poland but also those between Russia and Ukraine whose media are playing up this story. Moreover, they will raise new questions about why the West if it had this evidence did not bring it forward and demand an explanation from Moscow.

Polish and other commentators have suggested that NATO countries knew the truth about the 2010 plane crash long ago but did not say so because an attack that killed the president of Poland and his closest aides could lead to a demand by Warsaw that the alliance invoke Article 5 which specifies that an attack on one member constitutes an attack on all.

Eversti

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As part of Washington’s plan to beef up troop numbers inside Poland and establish a forward division headquarters there to deter potential Russian military actions, it will also be stationing a US Air Force (USAF) MQ-9 Reaper squadron in the nation.

At a White House press conference on 12 June, US President Donald Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda announced plans to grow the US military footprint inside Poland under a new ‘Joint Declaration on Defense Cooperation’ agreement.
Under the plan, the US will send an additional 1,000 troops to Poland, boosting rotational troop numbers to approximately 5,500, in order to “focus on providing additional defense and deterrence capabilities in Poland”, according to the document.

“The United States and Poland believe that the presence of United States military personnel in Poland strengthens NATO’s deterrence efforts, and the defense of the United States, Poland, and the Alliance,” the document reads.

Although the Pentagon has not provided additional details about the timing of the move or where the troops will come from, Trump said they would be pulled from Germany or “another location”, a move that is consistent with the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act, under which NATO promised not to permanently base substantial combat forces in new alliance members’ territory.

“We have 52,000 troops in Germany, and Germany is not living up to what they’re supposed to be doing with respect to NATO, and Poland is,” Trump later said.

The Pentagon is also planning to establish a division headquarters (forward) in the nation, as well as an aerial port of debarkation to move forces throughout the region. Plans also call for sending US special forces into Poland and building the infrastructure to support an armoured brigade combat team, a combat aviation brigade, and a combat sustainment support battalion.